ong bak 2 is coming out on dvd this year and it looks like another winner from the great tony jaa.this movie is not related to the first in any way other than the name. it looks like a period piece, withlots of cool krabi krabong action. and get this: there seem to be a group of warriors from differentparts of southeast asia that some how becomes tony jaa's character's mentors in the movie, one ofwhich is a SILAT man and the clip shows him using a pair of kerambit. that alone isworth checking out on you tube. this is a must SEE!matinik

This is not the kind of entertainment news I like to write about but it could have a far-reaching impact on the future of Thai action cinema and its greatest champion. In confirmation of swelling rumors and reports emerging from Thailand over the last several weeks, Variety now reports that international action star Tony Jaa has walked away unannounced from production on his directorial debut, ONG BAK 2, just as it was reaching the final stretch of production and was being marketed overseas at Cannes with an impressive promotional video.

Somsak Techaratanaprasert, a spokesman for the film’s production company, Sahamongkol, held a press conference and stated that the film would be completed on time for its scheduled release on December 5th.

Prachya Pinkaew, director of the original ONG BAK confirmed that he will be stepping in to complete what remains of the shoot and edit the entire footage.

“Jaa has little experience directing,” said Pinkaew. “He’s spent nearly $7.8 million. The film is almost finished, so I’ll try to see what I can do with the footage that he’s shot.”

Meanwhile, rumors have been flying around in the Thai media speculating on reasons for Jaa’s absence since June. Techaratanaprasert put to rest suggestions that the star had run away with the film’s investment capital.

“I guarantee that this is not a case of financial fraud, and I have no intention of pursuing any legal action against him,” Techaratanaprasert said. “We’re running behind schedule, and some of our international contracts have been cancelled because of that. I know he loves this film very much, so I just want him to finish the film because there’s only a little work left.”

Jaa’s family have reportedly come forth to suggest that the star has been under great stress and literally retreated into the jungle. Fans of Jaa who are familiar with his background will know that he was raised in a rural part of North Eastern Thailand where he and his family raised elephants.

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In other words, Jaa has pulled a Dave Chappelle. Chappelle is the popular American comedian who, at the height of his fame, abruptly walked off the set of his hit Comedy Central series in 2005 to retreat in South Africa. He eventually cited stress and disagreements with the show’s producers as reasons.

What makes this situation far worse is that Jaa was the star and the director of a feature film so all production literally ground to a halt. Making matters worse, other sources in Thailand are suggesting that Jaa ran the film way over budget. I haven’t confirmed these numbers but the roughly $2.7 million budget approved by the investors may have swelled to as much as $8 million.

Additional rumors suggest misuse of the budget and frustration from Jaa over his contract.

As an outside observer, it looks to me like Jaa took on too much responsibility too quickly and at the wrong time. Unlike many of his Hong Kong peers, Jaa has had a very short rise to superstardom in an industry that lacks the same mature support network of Hong Kong’s once thriving action filmmaking community. It took over 20 years and dozens of movies for Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung to reach the level of international fame that Jaa has managed to claim after only starring in a few movies. Years of working alongside dozens of equally talented stunt actors and filmmakers gave the Hong Kong stars all the time they needed to learn, not only the craft of filmmaking but also the business of it.

It’s still too early and there is still too little information to accurately project how this will all shake out. It looks fairly certain that ONG BAK 2 will be completed but what becomes of it is anyone’s guess. Uncertainty like this is like the plague to potential buyers. It’s going to hurt overseas sales and distribution.

Artistically speaking, the film will not be the same once Pinkaew gets his hands on it. I can’t say if it will be worse or better. However, that promo footage showed tremendous potential for Jaa to surpass Pinkaew as an action director. Then again, Jaa’s current actions cast doubt on how much involvement he had with the creation of that promo.

If Jaa wasn’t up to the task of directing and starring I just wish he would have had the good judgment to say something before accepting the task. When offered the chance to direct a big screen version of THE GREEN HORNET, Kevin Smith wisely admitted the limits of his directing ability and bowed out graciously instead of getting in over his head.

Yet even the best directors stumble. Terry Gilliam, one of the most gifted filmmakers of our time has had production nightmares throughout his career, none worse than the disaster that befell his ill-fated take on “Don Quixote.”

Unfortunately, this current situation with Tony Jaa could be career ending for a number of reasons. Investors will be less likely to back him now while overseas distributors will be even more cautious. Likewise, you can’t walk out on hundreds of people all depending on you and not expect to garner some ill will. I doubt he wants his action film career to end and certainly none of the millions of fans he has around the world do.

We can only hope that this situation will get sorted out and Jaa gets his head screwed back on. He’s still the best martial arts star of his generation and it would be a shame to see his talents thrown away due to lack of stress and financial management. I’ve long been concerned about the level of support he’s receiving in Thailand. There are undoubtedly a lot of good people working in the industry there but I wonder if its time for Jaa to move on to Hollywood where his action might get dumbed down but at least he’ll have enough support and guidance to carry on. He could always take that experience back to Thailand, much as Yuen Woo-ping and Jet Li have done.

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UPDATE: Tony Jaa came out of hiding for the first time since walking off the set of ONG BAK 2 to give a tearful interview for local Thai TV where he said that he was ready to return to work. Meanwhile, local tabloids are having a pitiful field day with the unfolding drama by latching onto rumors that Jaa is obsessed with black magic. The star actually had to address these rumors and deny them during the interview. Blogging on the interview, Wise Kwai’s Thai Film Journal calls it a soap opera and says, “it’s painful to see [Jaa] like this.”

I don't know if anybody here is into Korean films but these three are really good

'Vengeance Trilogy' is a term used to describe three films directed by South Korean film director Park Chan-wook which dealt with the theme of revenge. Tartan Films released the three films on DVD in 2007. They are:

* Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002) * Oldboy (2003) There is a fighting scene in this movie that really kicks ass. Its when the main character is fighting his way out of a hallway. I don't want to spoil it for you.. you just have to watch it. * Lady Vengeance (2005)

Backdrop:On January 31, 1968, 31 commandos from North Korean Special Unit 124 infiltrated South Korea in a failed mission to assassinate President Park Chung-hee.

As a means of retaliation, the South Korean military assembled a team of 31 social outcasts and death/life criminals, training them on the island of Silmido, off the coast of Incheon, in order to execute Kim Il-sung. The mission, regarded a suicide mission, was seen as the only way for these new recruits to redeem themselves and show their loyalty to their country. If they succeeded, they would win their freedom and a new life. With this goal in mind, they endured gruelling, almost inhumane training, becoming finely honed killing machines.

A good filipino film I would recommend is Dekata 70.

I haven't seen any asian or foreign films in a couple years.. when i use to rent them i would rent them online here http://www.cinflix.com/... but i think netflix carries alot of Asian films now.

there was a mention (in this thread?) about denzel washington training some bolo techniques with jeff imada.well, here's the rest of the story: a movie will come out next year, i believe, called the Book of Eli, starring theerstwhile washington as a man wandering a post apocalyptic US, some 30yrs after a nuke strike. some coolzombie vs kali stuff might be on the horizon!

there was a mention (in this thread?) about denzel washington training some bolo techniques with jeff imada.well, here's the rest of the story: a movie will come out next year, i believe, called the Book of Eli, starring theerstwhile washington as a man wandering a post apocalyptic US, some 30yrs after a nuke strike. some coolzombie vs kali stuff might be on the horizon!

woof matinik:

cool. thx for the update... i think the thread you are referring to is the 'movie fights' thread.

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"A good stickgrappler has good stick skills, good grappling, and good stickgrappling and can keep track of all three simultaneously. This is a good trick and can be quite effective." - Marc "Crafty Dog" Denny

did anyone watch Travel Channel's "Johnny Colt: At Full Volume"? pilot ep. had Johnny Colt, the bassist of the Black Crowes, an admitted adrenaline junkie, visit Thailand. Gen. Pooksrisuk taught Colt some Muay Korat. FYI, Tony Jaa also trained with the Gen. this was awesome for the Muay Korat!

mainly the Tiger Walk was shown. some applications of the Tiger Walk also. and the Tiger Walk moves translated to knife! at the end of the show, Colt had to fight one of the other Muay Korat students.

~sg

p.s. animated gif's to come when i have time

« Last Edit: September 10, 2009, 11:52:13 PM by Stickgrappler »

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"A good stickgrappler has good stick skills, good grappling, and good stickgrappling and can keep track of all three simultaneously. This is a good trick and can be quite effective." - Marc "Crafty Dog" Denny

here's another interesting tidbit: tony jaa's next film was supposed to be a film called Sword featuring, you guest it, krabi krabong! TJ, however, had a falling out with a producer and cancelled the film altogether !

BUT.....

"‘Ong Bak 3′ shooting as Magnolia nabs ‘Ong Bak 2′

News | Film News | by Mark Pollard

ONG BAK 2 Magnolia Pictures has announced today the acquisition of U.S. rights to Tony Jaa’s ONG BAK 2. The company previously released the original ONG BAK and now plans to release the Thai martial arts sequel in theaters later this year through their Magnet genre label. This news comes on the same day that Prachya Pinkaew’s autistic martial arts actioner CHOCOLATE arrives on DVD and Blu-ray courtesy of Magnet.

“When we first saw the original ONG BAK, after picking our jaws off the floor, we knew we wanted to be in the Tony Jaa business. It put us on the map as a home for the best in genre fare, and helped make our genre label Magnet possible,” said Magnolia President Eamonn Bowles. “We’re beyond thrilled to be able to carry the franchise forward and continue our relationship with Tony, Sahamongkol, and the entire creative team involved.”

The film and its star were involved in controversy last year when it was reported that Jaa, then also director of the production, had walked off the set amid rumors of runaway budget costs. After a televised admission by a teary-eyed Jaa that he was basically in over his head as a first-time director, he handed the production over to longtime mentor, action director Panna Rittikrai (BORN TO FIGHT). The film was completed and released to theaters in Thailand in December of 2008.

In the same announcement, it has been confirmed that production on ONG BAK 3 has already begun and is scheduled for release in December 2009. Sahamongkol Film has already stated that the third film will feature more fighting between Tony Jaa and DYNAMITE WARRIOR star Dan Chupong. Also, Jaa’s character will suffer crippling torture that forces him to fight without using his bones. Presumably that means no knee or elbow action, which should be very interesting given that Jaa’s specialty is Muay Thai."

this could be some sort of homage to jackie chan's last great film, drunken master 2, since, TJ is reportedly a big fan of JC!

ack! i didn't know Tony Jaa's movie Sword is now cancelled was so looking forward to it.

will have to check out DYNAMITE WARRIOR.

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finally saw 2 Korean movies, CITY OF VIOLENCE and THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE WEIRD. both were awesome! COV is like the Korean Ong Bak, in that it takes tae kwon do and showcases it. beautiful onscreen. loads of action scenes.

TGTBATW is a 'kimchi western'. a recent western i want to watch is called a 'sushi western', "SUKIYAKI WESTERN DJANGO" dir'd by Takashi Miike (best known for ICHI THE KILLER, AUDITION, etc). this is nothing like his others. this is homage to westerns.

TGTBATW was inspired by Sergio Leone's THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY. awesome action scenes. The Ugly and The Bad steal the movie.

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"A good stickgrappler has good stick skills, good grappling, and good stickgrappling and can keep track of all three simultaneously. This is a good trick and can be quite effective." - Marc "Crafty Dog" Denny

SOV is cool! korean action movies are among the best, so it really galls me that will smith and speilberg is tryingto remake old boy . can't they leave well enough alone!? and don't get me started on the remake ofENTER THE DRAGON WITHOUT MARTIAL ARTS AT IT'S CORE !

but i digress....

SG, you might want to check out "throwdown" by johnny to. the flick was released a few yrs back and it featuredjudo. kind of interesting since the art is seen from the chinese prespective. i thought johnny to did a goodjob on it. as for dynamite warrior, SG, i'm gonna suggest that you watch it without any expectation that it isup to par with ONG Bak1 or 2, and enjoy it for all it's glorious wackiness

another film that's out is Merantau featuring menangkabau/harimau silat. nice just to see silat on screen.www.merantau-movie.com

and on a sad note: one of the most talented action actor/director around, donnie yen will be retiring some time soon (2012 if memory serves) BUT will concentrate on directing/fight choreography. guess dacades of making great movies has taken it'stoll on the body. he has assassins and bodyguards next, followed directly by ip man 2 (more wing chun goodness)

i see it now. thanks 4 the correction, SG. Btw, the trailer is out now. www.thebookofelimovie.com. denzel INDEED does some Kali!!!

woof matinik et al:

any day now! cannot wait.

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on a diff movie -- sherlock holmes starring robert downey jr... it's out since christamas day of 2009. haven't seen it yet, want to. my training partner says downey trains WCK via the william cheung lineage.

~sg

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"A good stickgrappler has good stick skills, good grappling, and good stickgrappling and can keep track of all three simultaneously. This is a good trick and can be quite effective." - Marc "Crafty Dog" Denny

a couple of documentaries are coming out this year:a film called eskrimador (www.eskrimadorsdocu.com/) and the bladed hand (www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=345346948419). Both looks great with the latter interviewing guro Dan Inosanto, guro Jeff Imada and other luminaries featuredsuch as Topher Ricketts of Ilustrisimo USA and his sons Bruce and Brandon. the trailerfor the latter is posted in youtube.

woof everyone,I haven't posted in a while but, I have been following with great interest as usual. I am curious if any one has seen the show "lie to me". it is based on the concept of "micro expressions" that guru brought to our attention in another thread some time ago. interesting stuff and watching is a seminar of sorts. thoughts?tony

Of course, any mention of Hawaii Five-0 needs the obligatory Theme played.

Enjoy!

« Last Edit: September 22, 2010, 03:50:04 PM by Stickgrappler »

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"A good stickgrappler has good stick skills, good grappling, and good stickgrappling and can keep track of all three simultaneously. This is a good trick and can be quite effective." - Marc "Crafty Dog" Denny

I am very sorry to hear that Andy Whitfield's health problems continue and pray for his health to return.

I know they have been advertising a prequel season (The Rise of Krixus seems to be the theme), but still AW's withdrawal leaves a huge and perhaps fatal gap in the show for the show's future. How can he be replaced at this point?

We took the kids to the early show this past Sunday ($6 instead of $10, or $12 for 3D IIRC). An excellent family movie.

Also, my wife and I have become big fans of the TV show "The Mentalist" about a high IQ consultant to the homocide squad for the "California Bureau of Investigation". It is on Wednesday or Thursday nights; I foreget which because we just have it set to record.

Although Despicable Me / Toy Story 3 are "kids' movies", my wife and I thoroughly enjoyed it as did our children.

Despicable Me was touching in that the protagonist is a villain and he adopts 3 girls with the idea of using them to steal back a shrinking ray gizmo from his competitor who stole it from him earlier in the movie. Along the way, he begins to love the girls as daughters and not as pawns in his evil machinations.

Toy Story 3 is about Andy all grown up and off to college. He wants to save his toys and put in storage but somehow the toys get donated to a pre-k daycare center. The toys' mission, find their way home while dealing with some 'evil' toys. Fans of Toy Story 1 and 2 should definitely watch 3 if they haven't already.

Inception blew my mind, I really liked the complexities of the storyline. Not a Leonardo DiCaprio fan, but liked him in this. Joseph Gordon-Levitt was awesome in this. I kept scratching my head thinking he looked so familiar and I couldn't place him. After the movie, my sis-in-law mentioned that he played Tommy from the TV sitcom Third Rock From the Sun and it hit me. Christopher Nolan did an outstanding job on the story as well as direction IMO. DiCaprio is a thief who can enter people's dreams and steal their secrets. He is hired by Saito for a job to plant an idea in Saitor's competitor. Of course DiCaprio has his own demons he deals with. There is one scene where Gordon-Levitt does his own stunts and he is fighting someone else.. they are both floating, much like zero gravity. Don't want to spoil the movie too much with more details.

All 3 are highly recommended by me.

« Last Edit: December 01, 2010, 04:02:56 PM by Stickgrappler »

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"A good stickgrappler has good stick skills, good grappling, and good stickgrappling and can keep track of all three simultaneously. This is a good trick and can be quite effective." - Marc "Crafty Dog" Denny

A friend sent me this clip of a korean film. it's pretty violent, but there are two nice action sequences. starting at around 5 min and then at 11 min. knife vs multiple attackers and knife vs kerambit. lot of intensity.

A friend sent me this clip of a korean film. it's pretty violent, but there are two nice action sequences. starting at around 5 min and then at 11 min. knife vs multiple attackers and knife vs kerambit. lot of intensity.

I saw that a few weeks ago and wanted to write a formal review ... never got around to it. Not an original idea, protagonist is a former SpecOps type, has troubled past, trying to leave past behind, gets dragged back into trouble... shades of Leon aka The Professional thrown in. Refreshing fight scenes, very CQC, one of the fights was in a bathroom stall. Thai actor plays the Vietnamese killer... he is best known from a Thai movie which escapes me ATM. Really cool for fight scenes, lead actor was strong silent smouldering type... liked his performance/initeraction with the little girl.

"A good stickgrappler has good stick skills, good grappling, and good stickgrappling and can keep track of all three simultaneously. This is a good trick and can be quite effective." - Marc "Crafty Dog" Denny

He is probably too shy to bring it to your attention, but Brian's DB name is "Porn Star Dog" not "Porn Dog". The latter gives the impression he masturbates a lot, whereas the former gives the idea to the girls that he is qualified to be the star of a porn movie. In realit though, we are just riffing on the fact that his last name ends with the letters "porn".

er, I knew it was Porn Star Dog, but for some reason, what was typed left off the "Star"

My sincerest apologies to Porn Star Dog!

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"A good stickgrappler has good stick skills, good grappling, and good stickgrappling and can keep track of all three simultaneously. This is a good trick and can be quite effective." - Marc "Crafty Dog" Denny

I liked Battle:Los Angeles - Thought the filming, editing and sound were all well done. For a pretty unrelenting 2 hours of continuous fighting they paced it pretty well, and ....... one of the trailers they showed:The New Conan Movie ....

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It will seem difficult at first, but everything is difficult at first. Miyamoto Musashi.

"A good stickgrappler has good stick skills, good grappling, and good stickgrappling and can keep track of all three simultaneously. This is a good trick and can be quite effective." - Marc "Crafty Dog" Denny

Tony Jaa is taking another very big step towards reclaiming his position as the top martial arts screen fighter in the world. And this one is more than a little bit surprising on a great number of levels.

We brought word earlier this month of a new Hong Kong based project that would match Jaa with fight choreographer Sammo Hung and now Thailand's Sahamongkol Film have announced that Jaa will reunite with director Prachya Pinkaew and fight choreographer Panna Rittikrai for Tom Yum Goong 2.

Missing elephant jokes aside, this is big news for Jaa with the original Tom Yum Goong - released as The Protector in North America - marking both his last true hit and the beginnings of his troubles. It was immediately after Tom Yum Goong that Jaa essentially declared Pinkaew unnecessary and unwanted, announcing that he would direct his next film himself. Pinkaew was deeply insulted and the relationship between the star and the director who built his career degraded to the point where they weren't even on speaking terms. Pinkaew would go on to groom Jija Yanin in Chocolate while Jaa would crumble badly under the pressure of directing Ong Bak 2 himself, eventually losing control of the badly over budget and over schedule project.

But Tom Yum Goong 2 will reunite the entire Tom Yum Goong / Ong Bak team with Jaa in the lead, Pinkaew directing, Rittikrai handling fight choreography and Chocolate star Jija Yanin also handed a significant role - the first time Jaa has ever shared the stage with another marquee fighter. Like the upcoming Chocolate 2, this film will be shot in digital 3D.

The big surprises in this are twofold. First, Jaa and Pinkaew have patched things up and are working together again. This can only be viewed as a good thing because, frankly, neither has been as good without the other. The bigger surprise, though, is that Jaa is once again in the Sahamongkol fold, which I would never, ever have expected to happen. Jaa's original ten year contract with the company will have expired before this film goes in to production, meaning that they have struck a new deal. Consider that at the peak of the Ong Bak 2 debacle Jaa took refuge in a police station claiming that the studio had sent gangsters after him and, well ... the prospect of the star willingly signing up with the studio again seemed unlikely to say the least. Whether there was any basis to the gangster story isn't even the point - if Jaa believed there was enough truth to it that he sought police protection that says something about how incredibly bad the situation between star and company had gotten and I'm amazed that they've gotten back together.

Pinkaew's Chocolate 2 is scheduled to go in to production in May and will need to be completed before this can begin, so don't expect Tom Yum Goong 2 any time soon. But fans should be happy to know it's coming.

a friend posted this clip elsewhere... too many cool shows to watch... but adding this one to the list.

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"A good stickgrappler has good stick skills, good grappling, and good stickgrappling and can keep track of all three simultaneously. This is a good trick and can be quite effective." - Marc "Crafty Dog" Denny

I found most of the actors in Game of Thrones completely unbelievable as fighting men, and laughed at the perfection of some of the clothing-- e.g. natty fine Italian looking leather for a medieval knight type, but somehow the show drew my wife and then me in; I loved the seeing some beautiful women's bodies I thought the character of the Dwarf was very interesting and very well done by the actor in question.